Cleaning

rodwhaincamo · September 17, 2009, 04:24 PM

I hear all the time that people don't stop cleaning until they get clean patches through the barrel. Seems as though I spend a good hour or so and eventually call it clean enough. I bought a Hoppes 9 kit and bore brush first. This has been the case with the 3 handguns I've owned. Am I just giving up too soon? Should I try something else? My latest gun is a Tracker with the ported barrel. I just can't seem to get the porting clean as well as the forcing cone and around the cylinder. Any suggestions?

rbb50 · September 17, 2009, 04:34 PM

Yeah that cleaning can become real meticulous some times

Try some spray on like Remington gun oil in a spray can and my favorite from the auto parts store brake cleaner which comes in a huge can

Be sure to do that outside as it has some nasty smelling fumes

After that brake cleaner do remember to run a patch down with some Remington oil or another gun oil as brake cleaner will clean out every single bit of oil on that entire gun

Might want to remove the action from any wood stock or synthetic stock before hand also as you do not want oil or brake cleaner on those parts anyway

Once done you will find cleaning went much faster and you do only get a slight oil patch back when it is run through

Don’t leave a bunch of oil in there or it will run down and into your stock after reassembly which can ruin a stock

Mello2u · September 17, 2009, 04:38 PM

You raise two issues:
1) cleaning the bore
2) cleaning the porting as well as the forcing cone and around the cylinder

I find that I can clean my 1911 barrel's chamber and bore by:
1st putting a swab through it that has Hoppe's 9 and running back and forth about 6 or 7 times.
2nd I push a bronze brush through vigously about 6 or 7 times.
3rd I put some wet patches (with Hoppes 9) through until it looks pretty clean.
4th I put dry patches through till dry.
5th I put oiled patch through. If it is clean I put a dry patch through to leave a lightly oiled chamber and bore.

It only takes a couple of minutes.

As to you second issue, have you tried a cleaning brush? Like the Otis Gun Cleaning Brush Double Ended Nylon.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...442544#enlarge
Protect your eyes as you may spray solvent all over while brushing.

rodwhaincamo · September 17, 2009, 05:16 PM

I bought a copper brush thinking the nylon wasn't doing the job. Is that what you were referring to from Midway (no pic or description)?

Tom2 · September 17, 2009, 05:47 PM

Try coating the bore with solvent and letting it set for awhile. Let it do the work of soaking into the crud and dissolving it. That is with normal bore cleaners. Some special cleaners have ammonia for dissolving copper and should not be left in longer than they recommend. After it dissolves the copper, it goes, hmmm, what is left to attack, ah, the steel! Well I have heard of ammonia cleaners frosting bores. But something like Hoppes can set in there forever and do no harm. I swab out the loose crud in my bores and then run a wet patch thru and let it set for a half hour or so sometimes. Not too overdone so I don't have excess bore cleaner runnning in where it should not be.

CARGUY2244 · September 17, 2009, 06:05 PM

slip 2000 carbon killer is a green liquid solvent. they say it's non toxic, so ventilation is less of an issue.
soak whatever your cleaning, barrel, slide, the whole gun if needed, for 15 minutes. it dissolves almost everything, and what it doesn't dissolve, it loosens, and a brush or patch cleans up the balance of residue in less than a minute.
the key is proper lubrication afterwards.
this solvent will remove ALL lubrication from every part it touches.
apply slip 2000 extreme lubricant, and rub on all metal to metal parts. use compressed air to spread the lube to areas you cant reach.
this lube also makes the gun easier to clean the next time.
ive shot 6000 plus rounds through my dpms 308 ap4, the bolt has zero carbon, the bore and barrel are lead and copper free.
my glock, kahr, and ap4 take 30 minutes total, and are clean enough to keep my o.c.d needs satisfied.

rbb50 · September 17, 2009, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Slip 2000 carbon killer is a green liquid solvent

Hum that sounds interesting I need to see about some of that stuff

I found brake cleaner one day when I was changing the brakes on my car

I was spraying it on and thought, Wow the metal looks brand new and it cleans out all kinds of crude

Then I was thinking Hummmmm I wonder and used some on a revolver

After that I was sold for life but those fumes do stink big time and I hold my breath when I’m spraying it

drail · September 18, 2009, 01:33 PM

Brake cleaner on a revolver is not such a great idea. You are stripping all of the lube from the internals. You should consider just cleaning the cylinder, barrel and frame with solvent on a Q tip and let it soak awhile. Warming the metal helps quite a bit too. Hoppes is really overrated. Try Breakfree CLP.

45Gunner · September 18, 2009, 04:53 PM

Everyone has touched on it....I am one of those that wants to see a clean patch when I'm finished. I use Hoppes #9 Cleaning Solvent. Soak a patch really good and run it through the barrel and then sit the barrel on end at my cleaning bench. I had been doing that for years and then attended a school for a Government Agency and that is exactly what they taught. Let the solvent do the work and then go back and clean up the mess.

With no intention of hi-jacking the thread, I thought I would add this little note that most might find of curious value: At this government agency, I was issued a new, out of the box, H&K USP Compact .40 LEM, as was the rest of the class. No oil. The gun went to the range for a solid week, 4 to 6 hours per day. Each day was not less than 1000 rounds and sometimes much more. On the 8th or 9th day we were able to bring the weapons to a cleaning area to break them down and clean them. Hoppes #9 Solvent did the trick. You can only imagine the buildup of schmootz. A light coat of oil afterwards and we were back on the range the next day with the guns. No one had any failure of any kind and we were a class of about 56 people.

rbb50 · September 18, 2009, 05:30 PM

I use it mostly on my SS revolver and it will hurt the blue on a gun I have cold blued myself but does not seem to hurt a factory blue and it is it also works great to clean right before a blue job anyway.

On blued guns I just use the straw applicator and flush out the barrel with it but on the SS I can do the whole gun no problem and it comes out brand new and shiny then I use the gun oil to oil it back up again with a light coat

It works like greased lightning after that

By the way if you ever take a colt king cobra apart or any gun for the first time you have done that on that model do what I did

Take a bunch of pictures first as you take it apart

Without those pictures I could see how someone could put themselves into a jam they would never get out of completely disassembling a colt king cobra without them

Even if you have the breakdown drawings they will not help much at all when it comes to how all of those little microscopic springs and parts go back together in there unless you have a good picture of how they went before you took it apart

In my case the first time I did have a problem even with the pictures then because they were so high resolution I did find the problem with one little microscopic spring that looked like it was in right but it was a hair off which caused the cylinder not to cycle properly

Once back together it worked like greased lightening again and I had to think, WOW I feel sorry for anyone that takes one of these things apart completely without any pictures and only a break down drawing” LOL

September 17, 2009, 04:24 PM	#1
rodwhaincamo Senior Member Join Date: July 7, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 1,246	Cleaning I hear all the time that people don't stop cleaning until they get clean patches through the barrel. Seems as though I spend a good hour or so and eventually call it clean enough. I bought a Hoppes 9 kit and bore brush first. This has been the case with the 3 handguns I've owned. Am I just giving up too soon? Should I try something else? My latest gun is a Tracker with the ported barrel. I just can't seem to get the porting clean as well as the forcing cone and around the cylinder. Any suggestions?

September 17, 2009, 04:38 PM	#3
Mello2u Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 1,424	You raise two issues: 1) cleaning the bore 2) cleaning the porting as well as the forcing cone and around the cylinder I find that I can clean my 1911 barrel's chamber and bore by: 1st putting a swab through it that has Hoppe's 9 and running back and forth about 6 or 7 times. 2nd I push a bronze brush through vigously about 6 or 7 times. 3rd I put some wet patches (with Hoppes 9) through until it looks pretty clean. 4th I put dry patches through till dry. 5th I put oiled patch through. If it is clean I put a dry patch through to leave a lightly oiled chamber and bore. It only takes a couple of minutes. As to you second issue, have you tried a cleaning brush? Like the Otis Gun Cleaning Brush Double Ended Nylon. http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...442544#enlarge Protect your eyes as you may spray solvent all over while brushing. __________________ NRA Life Member - Orange Gunsite Member - NRA Certified Pistol Instructor "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." Frederic Bastiat Last edited by Mello2u; September 18, 2009 at 06:47 PM.

September 17, 2009, 05:47 PM	#5
Tom2 Senior Member Join Date: June 23, 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 5,676	Try coating the bore with solvent and letting it set for awhile. Let it do the work of soaking into the crud and dissolving it. That is with normal bore cleaners. Some special cleaners have ammonia for dissolving copper and should not be left in longer than they recommend. After it dissolves the copper, it goes, hmmm, what is left to attack, ah, the steel! Well I have heard of ammonia cleaners frosting bores. But something like Hoppes can set in there forever and do no harm. I swab out the loose crud in my bores and then run a wet patch thru and let it set for a half hour or so sometimes. Not too overdone so I don't have excess bore cleaner runnning in where it should not be. __________________ Your gun is like your nose, it is just wrong for someone else to pick it for you!

September 17, 2009, 06:05 PM	#6
CARGUY2244 Junior member Join Date: December 4, 2008 Posts: 119	cleaning slip 2000 carbon killer is a green liquid solvent. they say it's non toxic, so ventilation is less of an issue. soak whatever your cleaning, barrel, slide, the whole gun if needed, for 15 minutes. it dissolves almost everything, and what it doesn't dissolve, it loosens, and a brush or patch cleans up the balance of residue in less than a minute. the key is proper lubrication afterwards. this solvent will remove ALL lubrication from every part it touches. apply slip 2000 extreme lubricant, and rub on all metal to metal parts. use compressed air to spread the lube to areas you cant reach. this lube also makes the gun easier to clean the next time. ive shot 6000 plus rounds through my dpms 308 ap4, the bolt has zero carbon, the bore and barrel are lead and copper free. my glock, kahr, and ap4 take 30 minutes total, and are clean enough to keep my o.c.d needs satisfied.

September 17, 2009, 04:34 PM	#2
rbb50 Senior Member Join Date: November 2, 2008 Location: Deep in the Heart of Texas Posts: 169	Yeah that cleaning can become real meticulous some times Try some spray on like Remington gun oil in a spray can and my favorite from the auto parts store brake cleaner which comes in a huge can Be sure to do that outside as it has some nasty smelling fumes After that brake cleaner do remember to run a patch down with some Remington oil or another gun oil as brake cleaner will clean out every single bit of oil on that entire gun Might want to remove the action from any wood stock or synthetic stock before hand also as you do not want oil or brake cleaner on those parts anyway Once done you will find cleaning went much faster and you do only get a slight oil patch back when it is run through Don’t leave a bunch of oil in there or it will run down and into your stock after reassembly which can ruin a stock

September 17, 2009, 05:16 PM	#4
rodwhaincamo Senior Member Join Date: July 7, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 1,246	I bought a copper brush thinking the nylon wasn't doing the job. Is that what you were referring to from Midway (no pic or description)?

September 18, 2009, 01:33 PM	#8
drail Junior member Join Date: February 2, 2008 Posts: 3,150	Brake cleaner on a revolver is not such a great idea. You are stripping all of the lube from the internals. You should consider just cleaning the cylinder, barrel and frame with solvent on a Q tip and let it soak awhile. Warming the metal helps quite a bit too. Hoppes is really overrated. Try Breakfree CLP.

September 18, 2009, 04:53 PM	#9
45Gunner Senior Member Join Date: August 8, 2009 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 1,902	Everyone has touched on it....I am one of those that wants to see a clean patch when I'm finished. I use Hoppes #9 Cleaning Solvent. Soak a patch really good and run it through the barrel and then sit the barrel on end at my cleaning bench. I had been doing that for years and then attended a school for a Government Agency and that is exactly what they taught. Let the solvent do the work and then go back and clean up the mess. With no intention of hi-jacking the thread, I thought I would add this little note that most might find of curious value: At this government agency, I was issued a new, out of the box, H&K USP Compact .40 LEM, as was the rest of the class. No oil. The gun went to the range for a solid week, 4 to 6 hours per day. Each day was not less than 1000 rounds and sometimes much more. On the 8th or 9th day we were able to bring the weapons to a cleaning area to break them down and clean them. Hoppes #9 Solvent did the trick. You can only imagine the buildup of schmootz. A light coat of oil afterwards and we were back on the range the next day with the guns. No one had any failure of any kind and we were a class of about 56 people. __________________ 45Gunner May the Schwartz Be With You. NRA Instructor NRA Life Member

September 18, 2009, 05:30 PM	#10
rbb50 Senior Member Join Date: November 2, 2008 Location: Deep in the Heart of Texas Posts: 169	I use it mostly on my SS revolver and it will hurt the blue on a gun I have cold blued myself but does not seem to hurt a factory blue and it is it also works great to clean right before a blue job anyway. On blued guns I just use the straw applicator and flush out the barrel with it but on the SS I can do the whole gun no problem and it comes out brand new and shiny then I use the gun oil to oil it back up again with a light coat It works like greased lightning after that By the way if you ever take a colt king cobra apart or any gun for the first time you have done that on that model do what I did Take a bunch of pictures first as you take it apart Without those pictures I could see how someone could put themselves into a jam they would never get out of completely disassembling a colt king cobra without them Even if you have the breakdown drawings they will not help much at all when it comes to how all of those little microscopic springs and parts go back together in there unless you have a good picture of how they went before you took it apart In my case the first time I did have a problem even with the pictures then because they were so high resolution I did find the problem with one little microscopic spring that looked like it was in right but it was a hair off which caused the cylinder not to cycle properly Once back together it worked like greased lightening again and I had to think, WOW I feel sorry for anyone that takes one of these things apart completely without any pictures and only a break down drawing” LOL